Warm Bacon Dressing

In other words, I only really enjoy greens when I drench them in this warm bacon dressing.

Warm. Bacon. Dressing.

Need I say more?

This recipe came to be because I joined a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) this year. Side note – CSA’s are AWESOME! You should totally look into joining one, too, if you have the opportunity. I love being able to support my local farms and get this amazing, chemical free, non-GMO produce and pasture raised meats.

But anyway, my CSA kept sending me these greens. Week after week. Blechy greens. As beautiful as these greens were, I just didn’t enjoy the taste of them. I knew I had to figure out some way to make these greens more enjoyable besides hiding them in my morning breakfast shake (see that recipe HERE – it’s a good one).

And this warm bacon dressing was my answer!

And it’s a great thing to do with leftover bacon fat.

So go make it and then fill up your plate with a big ‘ol pile of greens. Don’t be scared. You’ll enjoy it, I promise!

When you said you didn’t like greens very much, that caught my attention. I don’t either. And salad dressing with bacon fat? Didn’t sound too appealing. But I bought a container of organic mixed greens this morning, made your recipe, and had a salad for lunch. I gave some to my partner — who is a retired food chemist and in fact developed a line of salad dressings for a major company. We are both very particular when it comes to dressings, but we both agree, this recipe is a winner! It was so good I plan to serve it to guests tonight who are coming for dinner.

My mother-in-law made a similar dressing half a century ago but included a half pound of bacon as well. it was made similar to gravy, and served over a chopped head of “endive” which was actually a narrow-curly leaved green found in the salad section at walmart. In PA they call it endive but it’s not the wide leaved french endive.

Her dressing involved cutting a half pound of bacon crosswise into narrow bits and frying it out to get the bacon fat. remove the bacon before it gets to dark, then whip an egg, two tablespoons of flour and two tablespoons of vinegar. pour slowly into the fat in the pan stirring the while with a whisk. as it thickens keep adding milk til you get a light gravy consistency. Add the bacon bits back in and pour hot over the chopped greens and stir until coated. allow to wilt and place on table. serve over boiled or whipped potatoes.

Thank you, Sarah! This dressing will last for months and months and months in the fridge! Both bacon grease and ACV lasts for a VERY long time, especially if kept cold. This dressing will harden in the fridge, though, so it will need to be lightly warmed when you need it.

I modified this recipes a little. Instead of using salad greens I blanched and cut up 2 lbs of broccoli along with half a red onion finely chopped. I used 1/2 cup of bacon drippings and a little less than 1/2 cup AC vinegar. To that 1/2 cup of vinegar I added enough balsamic vinegar to bring it up to 1/2 cup. I used a 1 1/2 tablespoons of mustard, about 2 tablespoons of Manuka honey and a teaspoon of garlic powder. After whisking it altogether, pour over broccoli, chopped onion and finely chopped bacon. I made this for Christmas but it’s going to be so tempting to not dip into beforehand.

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